The war horse farmer
by Samta Clause
Summary: The story of a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Equestrian Army is being sent to Ponyville to learn how civilians live. How will he learn to deal with normal life, and what awaits him on his vacation. ApplejackXOC
1. Promoted!

It was a quiet morning at the Canterlot Military Boarding House. But then again, it was before lights on. And as our story would have it, Second Lieutenant Chain Mail was being considered by Princess Celestia herself for a rise in rank. But, there was doubt in her decision, so she would put him through a bit of a test. And so the decision to send Chain to Ponyville was made official.

12:00 Month 5/12 Day 30/48

"Second Lieutenant Chain Mail," one of the snow white royal Pegasus guards said bursting into the training hall. "You have been called to an audience by Princess Celestia. Come with us now." He continued with his summons. And there was a lot of murmuring in the hall. One of the soldiers summoned by Celestia, this was rare indeed.

"Might I ask what I'm being called for?" A gray unicorn said, walking forward to the head of his platoon. This was Chain Mail.

"I don't have that information. She just summoned Second Lieutenant Chain Mail, which I presume is you. Now I repeat, follow me." The guard, who was just doing his job said and walked off into the palace gardens right above the training hall where soldiers fought and were soldiers all day to keep their body sharp as the swords they used. And so, with out having much choice Chain followed the guard.

And so, when they got to the throne room Chain bowed his head in reverence. The guards did the same as they walked in. "Second Lieutenant Chain Mail, I've decided to tell you this news personally as there's a catch. When you are back on active duty, you will be from here on out a First Lieutenant." The princess said in her usual toying voice, seeing if the soldier would catch on to what she hinted at.

"So, how long am I on suspended duty?" Chain asked, he had a hint of disappointment that he was being sent on vacation. He never cared for inaction, but he also didn't care for war. So, he was in an unusual situation.

"Oh cheer up. I'm sending you on a one year vacation to learn about civilian life for a change, because if I remember you were only a colt when you joined the military." The white princess said with a heartfelt and genuine and motherly smile. "Besides, I think that you'll like it."

"If you say so." He said, leaving to make the necessary preparations. He didn't want to know where he was going to end up for the next year. For once he wanted a good surprise. He packed his few essentials, some food, some water, and his sword as he got to the exit port. He was annoyed, good life, good men, and he was being moved to a new place. Never the best of situations. So, he climbed onto the royal chariot awaiting him with two Pegasus waiting to pull him.

"So, the big Chain's finally getting shipped out. Take it you know where-" One of the two said, Chain was laying down so he didn't know which one.

"Yeah, but I don't want to know where I'm going till I get there. Well, no need to drag this out any more than it needs to be. You should probably start driving." Chain finished for the driver.

And like that, all of three of them were off.


	2. Welcome to Ponyville

16:00 Month: 5/12 Day: 30/48

And so, after the 4 hour trip for the royal city of Canterlot to the small egalitarian village of Ponyville, Chain Mail had arrived at where he would be for the next year. The chariot Pegasus landed dead in the middle of the town square, much as they had before with Twilight Sparkle.

"So, this is where the big wig's decided to put me up for a year. I've gotta admit, it looks nice enough." The War Horse said to the driver Pegasi. "Oh, and when you see cherel next," he started, deciding to find the right words for this. "Tell him I'm going to kick his flank if he lets my men get out of line." He finished. Just because he had no real authority at the moment he still was one of the better lieutenants there was. And with that he watched as his last link to high society suits flew off into the midafternoon sky. And so, he went off to explore his new temporary home.

"Ohahnewpny,areyoufromecanterlot,Ihaveafriendfromc anterlothernameis…" A certainly, peculiar pony said talking at a rate of a mile a minute. She was a pink pony and had 3 balloons as a cutie mark. She also had a seemingly gravity defying manestyle. "Oh, wait. I have to go. I have something very important to do." She said as she bolted off.

'Is everypony here that talkative?' Chain Mail asked himself when he saw a building with a few burn marks on it. 'I sure hope not. And what happened here?' He thought, he looked up and saw that it said Sugar Cube Corner. 'Well, I'm not going to be much of a citizen if I just stand around. I'll need a place to live for the year. So, off to find a map and hope for the best.' The gray Unicorn thought as trotted off into the town to find a map.

Same time as before Sweet Apple Acres

Pinkie Pie, the pink pony from earlier if you didn't already guess, had just ran all the way from the square to her friend Apple Jack's apple farm just outside of Ponyville. In the orchard were all of her friends, barring Flutershy who had to take care of a sick bear.

"Guys, Guys, there's a new pony in town and we need to spread the word all secret like about his party tonight." Pinkie said running along the trees as she did to get all of their attention. "Oh, and Jack, can I throw the party in one of the empty fields since Sugar Cube Corner is kind of a little bit singed?" She added in as she saw the orange coated blonde farmer.

"Now hold on. Why don't you just throw him a shindig at his house, like you did with Twilight?" Jack asked, protesting a party on the fallow fields.

"Because, when Twilight moved in there was a vacant building in town. Since the last one of those got knocked down in that storm last week, He probably doesn't have a place to stay yet."

"Alright sugar cube, but there better not be any damage to the ground." AJ finally gave in. After all, a party could boost sells for the season.

**Take a guess as to how Chain and Apple will meet. And trust me, you're probably going to get it wrong. For the first time ever from me, comment and favorite.**


	3. And a love is born?

**A/N To Amaranth Mercy, Tangent, and the random viewer I would like to thank you for reading and/or following the story. It means a lot to me. And to .1829 I probably would have waited till Saturday to work on this before I read your review**

**That said, I am aware that my dialogue between Spike and Chain is exposition.**

16:20 Month: 5/12 Day: 30/48 Just outside Twilight's Library

'Well, it sure looks enough like a library.' Chain thought to himself as he walked in the bright red doors. "And now to find a map," the gray member of the war horses mused to himself.

"Hey, who are you?" A voice came from behind the unicorn. It sounded kind of tired and grouchy like it had just woke up. Doing what any good soldier would do, Chain turned around and saw a baby dragon.

"Well, I can't say I was expecting a dragon. But I'm new in town and looking for a map." He said, still not catching on that this was a private residence. After all, he just needed a map to figure out where he wanted to live.

"Hold on, a new pony in town. Don't tell me you're from Canterlot too." Spike said, already suspecting what that answer was going to be

"Wait, what do you mean too? You mean there are more than just me?" Chain asked, neither one of them actually grasping the situation at hoof.

"So I take it that Celestia didn't catch you up to speed. So far you're at least the second pony sent to live here in Ponyville for a while. I guess you don't have a place all your own like Twilight does this library because there aren't any vacant buildings in town. As for the maps they're in the resource section over there." The purple and green baby dragon that was Spike pointed a scaly finger at a section of particularly thick books. "And I don't think I got your name. Mine's Spike by the way." He said.

"It's Chain Mail." The almost stallion responded as he thumbed through the resources with magic. 'Finally, the future of my life here on 'vacation' rests on the contents of this sheet of paper.' He thought to himself as he pulled a rolled up map from between _A traveler's guide to Equestria _and _Super Spectacular Stupendous Spontaneous Summoning Scripture Signals and You._ He opened up the map and scanned over it for about 30 seconds before he put his hoof on the map. "And I think I've just found where I want to live."

17:00 Month: 5/12 Day: 30/48 Sweet Apple Acres

After 40 minutes of wandering around, Chain Mail had finally found his way to what seemed to be perfect to live at, if he was welcome. It was a mile or so away from town, so even if something happened there it wouldn't get the thick of it; It had a food supply, so it was better than a house in a siege; and best of all he had always heard that farmers had a similar schedule to soldiers so there wouldn't be too much of an adjustment.

"Now, who would I talk to about moving in?" He asked himself, still musing to himself with no one to ask as he walked down the dirt road. "Well, I should start at the barn. That's for certain." He said as he trotted off to the big red building. When he got there he met a pony that would have stood out in a crowd if there was one. "Uh, hi. I'm Chain Mail. I'd like to ask if you have a spare room I can stay in?" He asked, just getting strait to the point like he would another lieutenant

"Why sure, besides we could use a farmhoof this year anyway." She said, tacking that last part under her breath in memory of _that _year. "But, are you used to doing manual labor?" She started to ask, wanting to make sure that he had the right qualifications.

"In all due respect, ma'am, I've been training since I was a colt." The unicorn laughed. When she had started talking again he thought that it was going to be anything more personal.

"What about gettin' up at the crack of dawn?" The questioning continued.

'If it keeps on going like this than I'll have a home and a job on my first day here.' He thought to himself. "Yes, 5:00 sharp, no exceptions." He responded, a note of confidence evident in his voice.

"And now, most important of all, Are you a hard worker?" She asked, making it very clear from her tone alone that this one decisive factor would make or break her decision to let him stay here.

"I'm one of the hardest working Lieutenants in the Royal Equestrian Army. That's actually why I'm here, something about learning how a citizen lives and taking a break from the grind." He responded completely and honestly. He felt something rolling down his face, it was sweat. 'Wait, am I nervous just because I'm talking to a really pretty girl?' He thought, it was strange that a soldier would be so nervous without spells and blood around.

"Well, all right then. Now where are my manners?" She asked herself, her voice cheery all of a sudden. "I'm Applejack, let me show you around."

**I hate to cut the story short (even though it's about twice as long as the others) but it's close to the end of class. I promise I'll upload another chapter tomorrow to make up for the awkward ending.**

**Also, reminding you to review. It makes me work faster to know that there are people who really enjoy my work or not.**


	4. Too bad it's one sided (3 of 5)

**I know I said I would have this out on Saturday. I'm sorry for being a few days late on this, but I had to do a bit of research to avoid going OOC and ran out of time in the day before I crashed at my friends place. Also, while writing the dialogue I got really tempted to just write that in script format, but there's no fun in that. And as I learned that AJ doesn't have a whole lot of canon personality to explore, unfortunately, OOC warning.**

**Also, I know that I've deleted and reuploaded this chapter several times. I'm doing that because this is a monster of a chapter and I've gone so long with out an update I'm updating in real time. Again, sorry. Also, over 2K words in one chapter with this 3rd update.**

17:30 Month: 5/12 Day: 30/48 Sweet Apple Acres

"And that's about the thick of it." Applejack said, finishing up the tour of the farm. She skipped over the fields since that's where the surprise party for him was being planned. "So, any questions?"

"Well, I couldn't help but notice you skipped over the three fields. Why was that?"

" 'Cause. That needs a more in depth tour than I could have given you before supper starts." She said, her fake smile and tone of voice making it more than clear that she wasn't telling the whole truth.

'So, should I press her on this or not? On the one hoof, it might hurt any chances of a relationship, on the other it might actually be important.' Chain thought, coming to a conclusion lightning fast. "Alright," he started sounding more than unconvinced, "but first thing in the morning I want to go on an in-depth tour of all the different kinds of plants in the non-fallow fields." He finished with a laugh.

"Alright." AJ said with a sigh of relief. She hated having to keep secrets, even if it was for her friends. Before either one of them could say a thing the dinner bell was rang. "A'right. I'm hungry as a stallion."

"Agreed." And with that, they both galloped to the barn like a couple of children in a race.

17:40 month 5/12 Day: 30/48

"Oh, who's the new pony here?" A little filly asked as soon as they had gotten through the thresh hold.

"Now Apple Bloom, this here's Chain Mail. He's agreed to be the new farmhoof for the season in exchange for room and board. He was sent by order of the princess herself." The older of the two sisters answered.

"Now hold on. What kind of qualifications does he have?" Big Mac said, characteristically calm and collected while he was looking over Chain Mail. He was a couple of hands taller than the War Horse, but that was probably because of the age difference. He definitely looked like a work horse, maybe he would fit in here.

"I'm a soldier, sir. All I really need is a tour around the farm, which I've already been walked through, and not even a day's worth of learning the ropes." Chain said. He was glad that people seemed to like him here, grateful even, but he didn't want to hurt AJ's credibility at home. But then he didn't know how honest she was and how hard it would be to hurt her credibility on purpose, much less by accident.

"Sounds like someone I knew a while ago." Granny Smith, sitting in her rocking chair said as she woke up before falling back to sleep.

"Well, food's on." Big Mac stated, sitting down at the family sized table where he always sat. And so did everyone else. It was an average meal, but by anyone else's standards it would be huge. And so, they talked about what it was like being in the military, exchanging stories and the like. It was a good family time.

17:45 month 5/12 Day: 30/48 Sweet Apple Acres Fallow Field

Pinkie Pie had been preparing for the impromptu party for a few hours now, and there were only 15 minutes left until it started. Everyone in ponyville was there, and with the Equestria 500 starting next week at the same time as apple bucking season, there were a lot of ponies in town. But, there wasn't enough time or resources to set up parties for every one of the out-of-towners, so the pink maned wonder had to just stick to ponies that were moving into town. She had it already set up now, and all that was left was to scan the barn pinkie pie style until people started coming out.

15 minutes later

And so they came out.

"Alright, Places everypony" She said, watching as Applejack and Chain Mail walked from the main barn to the fields. She hid under a table, waiting to burst out into song at surprise. Granted there was no way of knowing exactly when they would walk on the unplanted land, but she did have a spot perfectly made to watch what was going on. 'Oh, here they come.' She thought, grabbing her party horn.

"Surprise!" She yelled, and Chain Mail was surprised. He jumped back a solid yard and was poised to strike for a second, before he realized what was going on.

"It definitely was." He said chuckling.

"Don't worry sugah cube. You'll get used to it in time." AJ reaffirmed him.

"Yeah, and don't worry, I invite everyone to my parties. Though you should mingle, after all it's your party." She finished on her present tangent. She had her usual mile wide smile.

"Alright." He said as he trotted off to meet the fine residents of ponyville

**And here it is, the first 900 words. And trust me, by Celestia the dialogue in this chapter is tedious to work on. So if I can keep up through my writers block, I should have the other thousand words up by Friday. Also, homecoming is this week, my moms been sick, and I've had a killer headache so that's why I've been on an off schedule, so regular updates should be back next week.**

The first pony that he walked up to was a light greyish mulberry coated unicorn (before season 3 finale). Something, though he wasn't quite sure what, seemed familiar about her.

"Oh, hello." She said, not entirely expecting to seen as much more than in the background at one of Pinkies parties.

"I'm Chain Mail." He responded, not sure what it was that seemed familiar. Maybe it was just his imagination pulling a prank on him again. It was bugging him all the same.

"I'm Twilight Sparkle, nice to meet you." She responded with a smile, meeting a new person after having so much experience with friendship would definitely help her studies along greatly. She would write a letter to the princess later about the new pony.

"You mean YOU'RE Shining Armor's little sister?" Chain said, definitely dumbfounded at her name. He did know who she was after all. 'A soldiers gut is never wrong.' He thought to himself.

"Oh, have you two met? And how do you know that he's my brother?" Twilight asked, that definitely wasn't the reaction that she was expecting from telling him her name.

"No, but there isn't a soldier alive that hasn't heard of Shining Armor. And he's bragged about you before, 'The princesses personal student' was what he said, at least that's what I heard through the grapevine." He explained, with a chuckle in his voice.

"So, you're a soldier?" She asked the obvious. Making friends with a Canterlot citizen would not only be a first, but would make excellent writing to the princess.

"Yeah, Second Lieutenant. Princess Celestia sent me here to learn about being a civilian." He further explained his position and why he was here.

"Well, I definitely think she sent you to the right place. And if you ever need to send a letter to the princess, I'm sure Spike will be happy to help."

"Wait, I met a Dragon named Spike earlier today when I went to find a map in the library." His response was nervous, like he wasn't supposed to have been in that library.

"Oh, that's where I live." She responded, she was just surprised that someone had actually gone in her house to learn something, like a library.

"Oh, then sorry about breaking and entering, and here is your map back." He quickly apologized, pulling the map out of his saddle bags with magic.

"Well, I figured people would come in since it's a library and all. And you can keep the map, it helped me a lot when I first moved here." She responded, remembering that it took her a good week to memorize where every little thing was.

"Thanks, and I think I'll go mingle a bit more." Chain said, sure that there were a lot of interesting ponies there that night, and while he couldn't meet all of them, he would at least a few.

"Alright." Twilight said as she went back to reading and keeping an eye on everything.

As he was walking he saw a cyan colored Pegasus with a cloud looking for someone. "So, who are you looking for?"

"The guest of honor, a good prank ought to welcome him." She said, not even looking at him.

"Well, you're talking to him." He said jokingly, she didn't even know she had given herself away.

"What, aww man. I got this storm cloud to scare you and everything." The unnamed pony complained at the fall through of her prank.

"Eh, I don't think it would've scared me much anyway. I'm in the army." He remarked, boasting proudly his lack of fear. 'Though I can admit I've been nervous before.'

"Woah, a War Horse. I've heard some interesting rumors about you guys." She responded as she lay on her cloud. Her note had an unmistakable note of nervousness derived partially by xenophobia and the rumors, much like what the deal with Zecora had been.

"If you mean that we enjoy bathing in blood, or that were all blood thirsty monsters than your aren't right. We're just elie guards of Equestria." He chuckled; honestly he didn't think any pony actually believed those silly rumors. They were headed by Princess Luna though, and her thousand year stint as Nightmare Moon really freaked people out. 'It'll all work it's self out eventually.'

"Huh, well, that sounds cool I guess." She chuckled back, that nervousness still there.

"You guess? Well, if you don't like following strict protocol and pushing yourself 120% everyday than yeah, it isn't the best job ever imaginable." He came back, laughing at the situation that a conversation with a random pony had led him into.

"Strict protocol, how do you stand dealing with that stuff." All traces of nervousness were gone from the weather pony's voice now, there was shock that he enjoyed the hard work and rule following that came with being in the War Horse division, but that was to be expected.

"Me personally, I've been living my dream since I was a colt." He laughed with smugness. It was rare that he got smug, but knowing that he was amazing at something that others weren't as good at. 'Civilian thing I guess.'

"Why would your parents make you join someplace like that." She asked, the tone of shock and sarcasm still in her voice, but much more subdued.

"Because, after I almost died in a fight, I got this." Chain answered as he pointed out his flank. He had a cutie mark of a simple sword. "And since I would be good at fighting, they sent me to learn."

"Wait, you're cutie mark is in fighting, but you almost died fighting. Shouldn't you have been, I don't know, good."

"Have you ever tried fighting someone twice your size that was much stronger than you and had formal training. I was lucky I didn't die after being stabbed in the chest 12 times by an older unicorn." He responded to the unnamed pony, wincing at the memory of when he was 6 years old.

"Wow, how did you come back from that."

"Let's just say the health care in Canterlot is really good. "

"So you didn't do it on your own."

"I was 6, fighting a 12 year old mare in advance fighting classes. That would be like you trying to hold a candle to the Wonder Bolts." He decided to show her why he was right by making a comparison. Granted, he didn't know her at all, but she looked the sporty type.

"I'll have you know that I've saved the Wonderbolts more than once." She told him, now with an almost yelling strict voice.

"Oh, _**Please **_do explain." He rolled his eyes at that statement.

"Gladly, at the Cloudsdale's best young flyers competition, they were plummeting towards the ground and I saved them and my friend Rarity with a Sonic Rainboom." She said, now competitively on the edge of her cloud that she just hadn't bothered to get rid of yet. The competition was in her voice, and eyes.

"So you can pull off a couple of tricks, but can you pull off their signature rolling barrel strait into a twin diamond aileron roll and finish up a sneak pass flowing nicely into a line-abreast loop?" Chain's voice had little change, just a smirk and an attitude that said check-mate. 'Since when have I been so competitive? I guess it's just something about this pony. I wonder what that says about me that I can be so easily roped into a meaningless competition over trivial maters by a pony that I don't know.

"Finally, a pony that knows their stuff in this town; where'd you learn so much about the Wonderbolts anyway?" She asked, shocked, but also relieved. Interesting pony this one.

"I've been a guard at the Grand Galloping Gala for the last 3 years. And to be honest, their performance is the only good part about that stuck up parade."

"Yeah, the names Rainbow Dash by the way." She said, it was unusual to bring up names this late into a conversation, but this was hardly a normal conversation so it was far from unacceptable.

"Chain Mail, and as fun as this conversation's been I still want to meet some more people at this party." And with that he walked off to find another pony to have a conversation with.


	5. Time Out (1)

**I am sorry to the few fans I have for this story for the prolonged hiatus I've been on. I just can't finish that last chapter.**

**So, I will be skipping ahead a bit in the story. To Apple Bucking Season specifically.**

**Once more, I am sorry, but I've had a lot on my plate and I had nothing more for that last chapter.**

**Expect updates soon.**


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